What would you give for a flying car?

[Lindsey]

zilch

okay; i have to ask...why, oh why, would you not want a flying car?

He's not alone.  I don't have any particular desire for one.  I guess if they were the standard, and my transportation abilities were going to be somehow hindered by not having one, I'd get one. 

[burnthebeautiful]

It would depend how fast it could fly. If it trotted along at 10mph, I'd rather drive. But if it could fly at regular airplane speed, or at least as fast as a car, then it'd be sweet.

[Phant]

The only way flying cars will be slower than terrestrial cars is if socialists out in California try to regulate them. 

[trollfreezone]

Yeah, well, early adopters will find them marginally faster than terrestrial vehicles, and considerably more expensive--but early adopters will exist, and they'll make the technology viable for the masses.  This of course depends on keeping government out of it.

[SnowDog]

You know, there really IS a flying car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElS9BKSsezw&feature=related

[trollfreezone]

You know, there really IS a flying car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElS9BKSsezw&feature=related

Yes, it exists, but it doesn't fly.  They're allowed to hover it as long as it has a crane attached to it.  It probably works, but until the FAA gives them permission to try to fly it, no one will know.

[SnowDog]

You know, there really IS a flying car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElS9BKSsezw&feature=related

Yes, it exists, but it doesn't fly.  They're allowed to hover it as long as it has a crane attached to it.  It probably works, but until the FAA gives them permission to try to fly it, no one will know.

Are they going after an FAA air worthiness certification? If so, it shouldn't be that hard to get. There are all kinds of flying contraptions out there, and this one, with eight engines, is probably a safer product than many of the others that get into the air.

A cursory view of their website, http://www.moller.com/news.htm, seems to indicate that they want a variant to permit non-pilots to fly the craft. That's something they will have a hard time with.

[Laetitia]

There is a person in my house who has been following the flying car development with great interest for a while.
I'm not eager to be one of the early adopter when the first production years of the moller hits the market.

I'm fine with him getting a plane after he goes through another round flight school & training, but that's a little ways down the list of priorities right now.

[trollfreezone]

You know, there really IS a flying car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElS9BKSsezw&feature=related

Yes, it exists, but it doesn't fly.  They're allowed to hover it as long as it has a crane attached to it.  It probably works, but until the FAA gives them permission to try to fly it, no one will know.

Are they going after an FAA air worthiness certification? If so, it shouldn't be that hard to get. There are all kinds of flying contraptions out there, and this one, with eight engines, is probably a safer product than many of the others that get into the air.

A cursory view of their website, http://www.moller.com/news.htm, seems to indicate that they want a variant to permit non-pilots to fly the craft. That's something they will have a hard time with.

If my recollection serves me correctly, they've been trying to get an FAA certification for years and years.  They seem to think they'll have one in the end of 2008.  Given past history, I'm not convinced.  If they do it right, however, it won't matter if the "driver" is a certified pilot (though the 2008 thing is for a VTOL certified pilot) because it'll basically fly itself.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

You know, there really IS a flying car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElS9BKSsezw&feature=related

Yes, it exists, but it doesn't fly.  They're allowed to hover it as long as it has a crane attached to it.  It probably works, but until the FAA gives them permission to try to fly it, no one will know.

Are they going after an FAA air worthiness certification? If so, it shouldn't be that hard to get. There are all kinds of flying contraptions out there, and this one, with eight engines, is probably a safer product than many of the others that get into the air.

A cursory view of their website, http://www.moller.com/news.htm, seems to indicate that they want a variant to permit non-pilots to fly the craft. That's something they will have a hard time with.

Its cool, but doesn't look like much of a car.  Look at the tiny little wheels on it.  Still very cool

[SnowDog]

Its cool, but doesn't look like much of a car.  Look at the tiny little wheels on it.  Still very cool

It doesn't need WHEELS! It's a FLYING CAR!

[trollfreezone]

It's vertical take-off and landing, so it may need to drive around 30 or 40 feet on the ground, max.

[Harry Tuttle]

I don't see anything mentioned on Moller's web site, but it seems to me that if the FAA is the holdup then they can just market them in some other country that has more lenient rules. I'm sure they could sell a bunch as toys to the wealthy of the world. Then (eventually) shame the US into allowing it.

That's a long-term strategy though. Most folks here in the USA are unabashadly anti-capitalism these days and would feel no shame at all.

[trollfreezone]

I don't see anything mentioned on Moller's web site, but it seems to me that if the FAA is the holdup then they can just market them in some other country that has more lenient rules. I'm sure they could sell a bunch as toys to the wealthy of the world. Then (eventually) shame the US into allowing it.

That's a long-term strategy though. Most folks here in the USA are unabashadly anti-capitalism these days and would feel no shame at all.

I think they're operating under the principle that the US is the greatest nation on earth--maximum freedom and all that (yeah, so they haven't poked their heads outside the hangar in 40 years.)

[Andy]

Flying cars in the sense of one in every garage (or one on every roof) won't be feasible until AI technology is more developed, contrary to popular belief a pilot is more than a glorified bus driver.